Three amplicons, appearing in a species-specific manner on the electrophoregrams of RAPD reactions that were obtained with primer OPA1, OPA1-800, OPA1- 900, and OPA1-1200, are analyzed in this study. The study revealed that each of these products is composed of one Leishmania DNA band, taxonomically conserved among the different Old World species studied.… (More)

LeIF, a Leishmania protein similar to the eukaryotic initiation factor eIF4A, which is a prototype of the DEAD box protein family, was originally described as a Th1-type natural adjuvant and as an antigen that induces an IL12-mediated Th1 response in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of leishmaniasis patients. This study aims to characterize this… (More)

Leishmania eukaryotic initiation factor (LeIF) antigen, a Leishmania protein, was shown to induce IL-12, IL-10 and tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) production by human monocytes-derived macrophages and dendritic cells from healthy individuals. This cytokine-inducing activity was previously found to be located in the amino-terminal region of LeIF protein.… (More)

Previously we showed that His-tagged, recombinant, Leishmania infantum eukaryotic initiation factor (LeIF) was both an RNA-dependent ATPase and an ATP-dependent RNA helicase in vitro, as described for other members of the DEAD-box helicase family. In addition, we showed that LeIF induces the production of IL-12, IL-10, and TNF-α by human monocytes. This… (More)

BACKGROUND
K+ and Na+ channel toxins constitute a large set of polypeptides, which interact with their ion channel targets. These polypeptides are classified in two different structural groups. Recently a new structural group called birtoxin-like appeared to contain both types of toxins has been described. We hypothesized that peptides of this group may… (More)

Dendritic cells (DCs) maturation is associated with upregulation of costimulatory molecules (CD80, CD86, CD40) and secretion of cytokines including IL-12 which is important for generation of effective T cells. Proteins of Leishmania parasite that stimulate the production of IL-12 could be of significant interest either as immunotherapeutic components for… (More)

Leishmania LeIF antigen, homologous to eukaryotic initiation factor eIF4A, was originally described as a Th1-type natural adjuvant and as an antigen that induces an IL-12-mediated Th1 response in the peripheral blood mononuc-lear cells (PBMC) of leishmaniasis patients. We showed previously that the induction of cytokines in monocytes of healthy subjects is… (More)

Leishmaniasis are a group of vector-born, parasitic diseases caused by protozoan of the Leishmania genus, that includes visceral or cutaneous forms. Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) refers to a group of diseases because of the variability of clinical manifestations, caused by a large number of Leishmania species. In Tunisia, three different forms of CL are… (More)

Leishmania LeIF antigen, homologous to eukaryotic initiation factor eIF4A, was originally described as a Th1-type natural adjuvant and as an antigen that induces an IL-12-mediated Th1 response in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of leishmaniasis patients. We aimed at addressing the role of this protein and defining the minimum fragment… (More)